• Antonio Petruzzo, Valentina Biagioli, Angela Durante, Leonardo Emberti Gialloreti, Fabio D'Agostino, Rosaria Alvaro, and Ercole Vellone.
• Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", via Montpellier, 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: antonio.petruzzo@gmail.com.
• Patient Educ Couns. 2019 May 1; 102 (5): 1021-1028.

ObjectivesTesting the influence of heart failure (HF) caregiver preparedness on anxiety and depression, and the influence of HF caregiver anxiety and depression on caregiver physical and mental QOL.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we used the Caregiver Preparedness Scale (CPS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) with the anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D) subscales, and the Short-Form 12 (SF-12) measuring the physical component summary (PCS) and the mental component summary (MCS) of QOL. Socio-demographic data and patients' clinic data were also collected. Data analysis was conducted with descriptive statistics, correlations, and path analysis.ResultsA total of 366 HF caregiver and patient dyads were enrolled. Caregivers were mostly females (73.3%) with a mean age of 58.61 (SD = 15.66) years. The tested model showed excellent fit indices with the following significant paths: CPS scores predicted HADS-D scores; HADS-A scores predicted MCS scores; and HADS-D scores predicted both PCS and MCS scores. Also, HADS-D mediated the relationship between CPS and MCS scores.ConclusionPreparedness influences HF caregiver depression and depression influences caregiver physical and mental QOL. Depression mediates between preparedness and HF caregiver mental QOL.Practice ImplicationsInterventions focused on improving HF caregiver preparedness may improve caregivers' depression and QOL.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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